I HAVE tried and failed to think of another country where it would be considered in any way controversial to propose that schools be required to build their education around that nation's values.

Can you imagine the US senate descending into mealy mouthed argument as to whether promoting American values in the classroom might upset some minority or other?

Or imagine South Africa humming and hah-ing as to whether the values on which the country proudly rebuilt itself after apartheid had a place in schools?

Even Sweden, the liberal pin up nation where David Cameron made the announcement on the teaching of British values, recently passed a law preventing religious schools teaching material that conflicts with Swedish ideals of tolerance.

Yet predictably enough as soon as the Prime Minister had made his announcement Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt accused Michael Gove of failing to live up to the British values of multi-culturalism.

Of course there is a debate to be had over what constitutes British values but that shouldn't blind anyone to the obvious: that primary schools which ban Christmas, take music off the curriculum on the grounds that it is unholy, preach to six year olds that Westernised women are "white prostitutes" and organise expensive trips to Saudi Arabia exclusively for Muslim pupils are not upholding the values held by the vast number of people in Britain.

Teaching British values isn't about telling people they have to like cricket or enjoy the works of Charles Dickens

Teaching British values isn't about telling people they have to like cricket or enjoy the works of Charles Dickens.

It isn't about making sure that everyone knows when Emperor Claudius invaded Britain, when the first curry house was opened in London or any of the other obscure questions in the British citizenship test.

It is about teaching values of tolerance, hard work and respect for the law which have helped make Britain one of the most successful countries on Earth and continue to make the country a magnet for those fleeing from tyranny elsewhere.

Following British values certainly doesn't mean having to follow Christian beliefs or any religious practice at all. But it does mean respecting that Britain has a long Christian heritage and that our laws and customs derive from that.

To be a good British citizen you don't necessarily have to know where and when the Magna Carta was signed (though anyone taught in Britain by a competent history teacher ought to have some inkling there is a big anniversary coming up).

What you do have to do is understand that it is one of the foundation stones of our democracy and to respect the democratic principles which it introduced and that remain embedded in our culture now.

If you want a short guide to British values a good place to start is the UN Declaration on Human Rights which was, after all, largely written by lawyers from Britain and other Anglo phone countries in the years immediately following the Second World War.

Though the concept of human rights charters has been compromised in recent years by the perverse decisions of judges at the European Court of Human Rights there is nothing wrong with the UN charter itself.

As regards religion in schools, article 18 puts perfectly what the vast majority of Britons believe: "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, con science and religion. This right includes freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance."

In other words, yes it fits with British values of tolerance that schools make prayer rooms available and school uniform, where reasonable, accommodates children who want to express their religion. The very reason we have so many religious minorities in Britain is that freedom of religious worship has been enshrined in our culture.

But it is not acceptable for a school to ram religious beliefs down children's throats or to force girls to cover their heads or faces in the name of religion or to suggest that engaging in religious worship is anything other than the choice of the individual.

Countries such as Saudi Arabia have refused to sign the UN declaration on the grounds that it demands people be allowed to change their religion or it demands equality between men and women. But we should not be shy to say the values of those countries are not British values and they never will be.

For years it seemed to be the doctrine of social workers, educationists and even some in the police that they should not step into matters of cultural sensitivity.

This is what allowed forced marriage, female genital mutilation and abuse of under age girls to go on beneath our noses. It is also what allowed the stealthy Islamification of what were supposed to be secular schools in Birmingham.

It cannot be emphasised enough that Britons fought for centuries to win their rights and freedoms and that, no, we are not going to reverse that now out of some perverse respect for "multi-culturalism".

No one is calling for a neo-imperialist mission to spread British culture to every corner of the world, just demanding that British values of freedom, democracy and tolerance deserve to be defended from those who would love to suppress them.